Kira Valentinovna Ivanova

Kira Ivanova
Full name	Kira Valentinovna Ivanova
nation	Soviet Union
birthday	January 10, 1963
place of birth	Moscow
size	159 cm
Weight	48 kg
date of death	December 18, 2001
Place of death	Moscow
Career
discipline	Single run
society	Dynamo Moscow
Trainer	Irina Anikanowa, Jelena Tschaikowskaja, Wladimir Kovalev
choreographer	Alla Kapranova
Medal table
Olympic medals 0 × 0 × 1 × World Cup medals 0 × 1 × 0 × EM medals 0 × 0 × 4 ×
winter Olympics bronze Sarajevo 1984 Ladies  World figure skating championships silver Tokyo 1985 Ladies  European figure skating championships silver Budapest 1985 Ladies silver Copenhagen 1986 Ladies silver Sarajevo 1987 Ladies silver Prague 1988 Ladies

Kira Walentinowna Iwanowa ( Russian Кира Валентиновна Иванова ; born January 10, 1963 in Moscow ; † December 18, 2001 there ) was a Russian figure skater who competed for the Soviet Union in a single run .

biography

Kira Ivanova won her first Soviet championship title in 1979. In the same year she played her first world and European championships and the following year her first Olympic Games . In 1981 she became Soviet champion for the second time. After that she was banned from the Soviet Union for two years. One reason for this was the heated relationship with her trainer, Vladimir Kovalev , both on and off the ice, the associated inconsistent training, alcohol abuse and unpredictable public outbursts. She was also considered to be very vulnerable to fleeing to the West. Despite all these problems, after her suspension expired in 1984, Ivanova was still one of the best Soviet figure skaters and better than ever. At the European Championships as well as at the World Championships , she was fourth. At her second Olympic Games in Sarajevo in 1984 she won her first major international medal with bronze behind Katarina Witt and Rosalynn Sumners . It was the first and only Olympic medal in history for a figure skater from the Soviet Union. 1985 began its most successful year. In Budapest she became Vice European Champion and in Tokyo Vice World Champion behind Katarina Witt. She also won the silver medal behind Witt at the following European Championships in 1986 , 1987 and 1988 . There she was always placed one place ahead of her compatriot Anna Kondraschowa , behind whom she had only finished second at the national championships from 1985 to 1987. Iwanowa should not win a World Cup medal, however. In 1986 she finished fourth, as in 1984, and in her last world championship in 1987 she finished fifth. In 1988 she won the Soviet championship for the third and last time. After her third and final Olympic Games, in 1988 in Calgary , in which she was only seventh despite a win in duty , she ended her competitive career.

At the beginning of her career, Ivanova was known as a good free skater, with good ballet training and capable of strong triple jumps. So she was one of the few runners who could show a clean triple-triple combination. Later in her career, after a two-year ban in 1984, she earned the reputation of a compulsory figure queen who had become inconsistent in her freestyle performance. This prevented her from ever winning a major international title.

Kira Valentinovna Ivanova (left) 1978

After the end of her amateur career, she switched to the professionals and appeared in some ice revues, later she worked as a trainer. In 1989, her grandmother, who had taken great care of her and accompanied her to the ice ring, died in 1989 because her parents were divorced. Ivanova was pregnant in 1992 but had the child aborted because her contract did not allow her. In 1993, her half-sister took her own life. Ivanova suffered from alcohol problems. Several attempts at treatment were unsuccessful.

On December 20th, 2001, Ivanova's lifeless body was found in her home by neighbors. Investigations revealed that she had died from stab wounds inflicted with a butcher's knife three days before it was found. Your killer was never caught.

Results

Competition / year	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988
winter Olympics		16.				3.				7th
World championships	18th		12.			4th	2.	4th	5.
European championships	10.	11.	7th			4th	2.	2.	2.	2.
Soviet championships	1.		1.				2.	2.	2.	1.

Web links

• Kira Walentinowna Iwanowa in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )
• Fan page in memory of Iwanowa, with detailed biography and pictures (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://kiraivanova.my1.ru/bio_eng.html
2. ↑ http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2001/12/22/spt_kira_ivanova_soviet.html